By Jim Klossner, Senior Director, Product Management and Software Development, ThinkOn
This is part two of the New Digital Reality Series: Cybersecurity. Read part one here.
In Part One of this series, we explored the escalating battle against cybercrime and how a cloud-smart approach can help organizations repel the threat actor. The reality is that cybercrime has many faces, and no one application can fully protect an organization from exposure.
Hackers are getting smarter—and greedier—and we need to take a multi-faceted approach to prevent another breach like the one that impacted Microsoft customers in July 2023, in which thousands of government and private emails were stolen.
Cyberattack is serious business, and the continued success of malicious actors exposes the gravity of the threat to all organizations. “The [Microsoft email] breach reveals the ongoing challenge of keeping sophisticated actors out of systems. Microsoft describes the hackers as ‘well-resourced’ and ‘focused on espionage,’” says Jenna McLaughlin, in a recent NPR article.[1]The truth is that Microsoft takes care of the infrastructure, but when it comes to the data, you need more protection, and that’s what ThinkOn’s Compass Data Protect for M365 is designed to do. As hackers become more sophisticated, we need to take a comprehensive approach to keeping ahead of their tactics, and that means exploring the entire digital landscape and the management of the data we treasure.
Cloud smart, cyber secure
Cloud smart means asking the right questions and designing digital solutions around the answers. Some providers like to stuff the cloud with a wide array of applications and hope the right one is in place at the crucial time, but that just clutters the field and adds confusion and cost to operations.
“Since every organization has different needs, it’s important to take a holistic approach to each client’s technology journey,” says John Slater, Chief Security Officer at ThinkOn. “That way, a ‘perfect-fit’ solution can be created that is cost-effective, easy to use, supported by experts, and able to grow and change with evolving needs.”[2]
When you have the right tools in place for the best uses, detecting a breach is a lot easier. It’s a case of knowing your enemy and anticipating what they want, but it’s also about knowing your infrastructure—in effect, your field of battle—and how you use and leverage your data.
Protection, for the love of data
It takes a data expert to understand what can happen to your data the minute your guard is down. A cloud-smart approach is focused on never allowing your most precious asset to be highjacked, but also acting swiftly to respond to any threat and mitigate any damage. When it comes to cybercrime, we need to face the digital reality—it’s not “if” but “when” an attack is attempted, and 94 percent of organizations have experienced a cyberattack on their digital assets.[3]
At ThinkOn, we are data protection experts, and our credentialed engineers know how to store sensitive data so hackers can never get their hands—and eyes—on your information. We provide a service delivery model that reflects our commitment to safeguarding data and applications, and all our services adhere to security standards and industry compliance requirements.
For streamlined operations and compatibility, we provide an architecture that supports site-to-site VPN, firewalls, and segregated customer networks with additional physical and virtual data security protocols in place. That’s part of our cloud-smart approach to making your data thrive.
Managing the back door
A cloud-smart approach begins with questions like, how do you use your data? Who has access? Is it subject to sovereignty and compliance rules?
Data management is as important as your backup and disaster recovery software. If you don’t know what data you have, whether you need to store it, how sensitive it is, and how it can be leveraged, then how will you know how to protect it?
Categorizing your data so you know where and how to store it will save your most sensitive data from exposure. Using a combination of hybrid cloud, multicloud, and on-premises solutions can create a more resilient and protected environment for your data; advanced and automated data analysis and reporting will help you manage and monitor your digital environment to help detect any attempts at cyberbreach quickly and efficiently.
The bad guys could be wearing a white hat
Do you know if your cloud provider has offshore contractors managing your data? All the foreign-owned cloud providers use third-party offshore resources to manage data, and they probably haven’t told you.
“That makes cloud computing a complex and risky business, exposing clients to a framework that doesn’t guarantee security and compliance for those responsible for maintaining sovereignty over our data,” says Slater.[4]
Foreign contractors aren’t subject to the laws of your country; they are accountable to the laws of their own. That could mean that your data is being accessed by a foreign government or outside entity without your knowledge. That’s how leaks happen, and it could result in a super sneak attack, because you may never know about it. These foreign actors hide behind a white hat as your friends and helpers, but what do you know about them?
“Checking our data into a foreign-owned cloud provider can feel like the opening to a horror flick,” says ThinkOn CEO, Craig McLellan in a recent blog. “Everything seems bright and hopeful at the start, but there’s a pervasive doubt about what’s lurking around the corner, and it just gets worse from there.”[5]
The good guys aren’t hiding in the shadows
Sovereign cloud providers, like ThinkOn, provide a secure answer. We use multi-layered security and access controls to protect data, including RansomGuard, an add-on to Data Protect with Veeam to further improve security against internal and external threats such as ransomware. Our customized, comprehensive approach to data protection prevents unauthorized access and data loss in the face of growing cyberattacks from foreign actors.
Transparency and sovereignty, combined with a cloud-smart approach to planning your digital landscape are the tools that will save you from a “hack attack” and help you win the battle against the rising tide of cybercrime.
Learn how to protect your data from cyberattack with ThinkOn.
[1] Jenna McLaughlin. 2023. NPR. “Microsoft says Chinese hackers breached email, including U.S. government agencies.” https://www.npr.org/2023/07/12/1187208383/china-hack-us-government-microsoft
[2] John Slater. 2023. ThinkOn. “Cyberattacks Cost Organizations Millions in Revenue Loss and Reputational Damage: The Hidden Threats of Missing Out on the Right Cybersecurity.” https://thinkon.com/blogs/hidden-threats-of-missing-out-on-the-right-cybersecurity/
[3]Steve Alder. 2023. The HIPAA Journal. “94% of Organizations Experienced a Cyberattack in 2022.” https://www.hipaajournal.com/94-of-organizations-experienced-a-cyberattack-in-2022/
[4] John Slater. 2023. ThinkOn. “Data Security and Compliance: Are Foreign Actors Lurking in Your Cloud Provider’s Supply Chain?” https://thinkon.com/blogs/are-foreign-actors-lurking-in-your-cloud-providers-supply-chain/
[5] Ibid.